Chapter Six #2
“Go on,” she demanded, “It is a remarkably long list!”
“I’m sorry I deliberately denied you the house of your dreams,” Sebastian continued, confessing his sins.
“I am sorry I forced you to stay in that cold, impersonal penthouse that you hate just to spite you! I am sorry I was distant, cold and a terrible husband for five long years!”
With every single confession that poured from his lips, the surrounding crowd gasped louder, instantly judging him and painting him as a monster. Whispers rippled through the spectators as men shook their heads and women glared at him with pure disdain.
??
Kneeling on the hard pavement and confessing his sins in front of a hostile Beth, and a fiercely judgy crowd of strangers, was the last thing Sebastian had expected to do when he showed up at the restaurant in place of Julian.
Earlier that afternoon, Sebastian had called Julian directly and had warned him to back the fuck off his wife. And in the same breath extracted the exact time and location of their scheduled date.
He had shown up to the restaurant feeling smug and eager to surprise his wife but in the end, he was the one who had been surprised.
As he approached her table, he immediately noticed her long, bare legs and cleavage. A surge of jealousy coursed through him. She was dressed like that for dates with other men, and Sebastian found that unacceptable.
She was his wife!
She had stormed out of the restaurant, forcing him to chase her into the street and get down on his knees to grovel for her forgiveness.
Yet, as Sebastian looked up at her from the pavement, surrounded by strangers who clearly thought he was a complete villain, he knew the crowd entirely understood why a man like him, a man who could easily get with any woman in the city, would willingly swallow his pride and beg on his knees.
One single look at his insanely sexy wife answered that question instantly.
Beth looked down at him for a few seconds, letting him sweat.
“That’s a good start,” she murmured. That was all she said after watching him shamelessly grovel at her feet.
Then she spun on her heel, flagged down a passing yellow cab, and slid into the backseat, speeding away before he could even stand up.
Sebastian slowly rose to his feet and dusted off his trousers. Several men in the crowd offered him pitying looks, a couple of them stepping forward to give him sympathetic pats on the back as the crowd began to disperse.
“Good luck, brother,” one man muttered. “You’re gonna need it.”
Sebastian nodded his thanks and stood on the sidewalk, watching the red taillights of her taxi disappear into the city traffic. His mind was spinning and in that moment, he wasn’t sure of his next move.
He’d never been in a position like this before. Girls had chased after him his whole life and this was the first time he was actually having to put in effort, and by the looks of it, Beth was going to make him work for it.
He was up for the challenge though, and he knew he had to try harder.
He could not let her get away. Grovelling on the street was a decent start, but it was nowhere near enough to erase five years of neglect. He had to go big.
Walking down the avenue, his eyes caught the brightly lit window of a floral boutique. He walked straight inside, pulled out his black card, and bought out their entire stock of long-stemmed red roses.
How did he know red roses were her favourite? Because despite his coldness during their marriage, he had noticed several vases filled with red roses all around the house. One in their entryway, another in the kitchen, one in the foyer and one right beside her bed.
An hour later, a vans loaded with thousands of red roses delivered the entire inventory straight to her father’s estate, addressed directly to Elizabeth.
That night, Sebastian sat in his dark penthouse, staring at his phone, waiting for a response.
He never heard a single word from her.
He repeatedly tried calling her private number throughout the evening, but every call went straight to voicemail, she had likely blocked him.
He however knew that she had received his grand gesture because her father had called him the next morning complaining that his house smelled like a rose garden.
Over the days that followed, Sebastian’s campaign only escalated. Blocked from calling or texting her, he turned the local florist into his personal courier, sending handwritten notes pinned to elaborate arrangements delivered to her father’s estate twice a day, every single morning and afternoon.
Dinner tonight at ocean prime? Just talk. – S
Let me take you out. Name the place. – S
Lunch tomorrow? I will bring your favourite pastries. – S
??
By day ten, their living room looked less like a private mansion and more like the Chelsea Flower Market. Vases overflowed off the grand piano, lined the hallways and crowded the patio tables.
“If that boy sends one more arrangement, I’m billing him for a second butler just to water them,” Arthur grumbled one afternoon, stepping over a towering vase of white lilies to reach his morning paper.
Beth didn’t answer. She simply picked up the tiny card tucked between the stems.
Dinner tonight? I’ll let you pick the wine- S
She dropped it straight in the bin where the others had ended up but as she walked away, her pulse betrayed her, thumping a little faster.
??
For two weeks straight, the floral siege on Star Island continued without interruption. Orchids, rare lilies, and fresh roses arrived twice daily, each carrying a note written in Sebastian’s distinct, sharp penmanship.
He had zero intention of stopping until she finally agreed to see him. Yet she remained completely unmoved, and he had yet to hear a single word back.
On the fifteenth morning, Sebastian stood at his penthouse window, looking down at the Miami skyline. The florist had just confirmed the morning delivery, two dozen black baccara roses accompanied by a final written plea.
Silence. Again.
A dark, dangerous smile touched the corner of his mouth as he slid his phone into his pocket. Flowers and notes were passive, they allowed her to stay safe behind her father’s gates. Elizabeth wanted a real fight and Sebastian was done playing the silent admirer.
It was time to stop using proxies and go get his wife himself.